HOUSTON - A Bangladeshi national residing in
Tapachula, Mexico, was arrested Aug. 31 on arrival at George Bush
Intercontinental Airport in Houston to face a superseding criminal indictment
for his role in a scheme to smuggle aliens into the United States.

The unsealed superseding indictment alleges that from
March 2017 to August 2018, Milon Miah conspired to bring and brought 15
Bangladeshi nationals to the United States at the Texas border in exchange for
payment. Miah allegedly maintained a hotel in Tapachula, Mexico, where he
housed and fed aliens and provided them with plane tickets to locations in
northern Mexico where the aliens were met by other smugglers who transported
them to the U.S. border. One of Miah’s co-conspirators in the smuggling operation,
Moktar Hossain, pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to bring an alien to the
United States as well as several related smuggling charges.

“Human smuggling rings endanger the security of the
United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This arrest sends a strong message
that the Department is dedicated to holding accountable those who conspire to
subvert our nation’s immigration laws for their own profit.”

“Securing our borders is a national security and law
enforcement priority,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick. “Often, disparate
organizations cooperate in an effort to exploit our border. The great
investigative work by multiple agencies stopped this group and is able bring
foreign based defendants to justice.”

“The arrest of Milon Miah represents a significant joint
effort in ensuring national security and public safety,” said Special Agent in
Charge Shane Folden of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI) San Antonio. “HSI remains steadfast in vigorously
investigating and dismantling transnational criminal networks that pose a
threat to our nation. We will continue to work with our law enforcement
partners to maintain the integrity of our border and ensure the safety of our
communities.”

Miah was presented yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge
Dena H. Palmero in the Southern District of Texas for his initial appearance.
At the hearing, Judge Palmero ordered Miah be held pending transfer to Laredo
for further criminal proceedings.

HSI Laredo is conducting the investigation with
assistance from HSI Mexico City, HSI Monterrey, HSI Houston, HSI Calexico,
Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service. The
investigation is being conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel
Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division and HSI. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling
networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks
or present grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative,
intelligence and prosecutorial resources. ECT coordinates and receives
assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement
authorities.

Trial Attorneys James Hepburn and Erin Cox of the
Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section are
prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Southern District of Texas.

Post a commentName/Nickname:(required)Email Address: (must be a valid address)(will not be published or shared)Comments: (plain text only)